Happy 2013! I must say, 2012 was a VAST improvement on both 2011 and 2010, and so far, 2013 is starting off swimmingly. I'm really excited for the first art show I'm participating in this year, a
Print Show at Ghost Gallery, which opens this Thursday, January 10. I've been showing regularly through Ghost for the last few months; I love the place and am so happy to be included in their shows. The upcoming show will include prints of all kinds from a variety of talented artists from Seattle and beyond.
I'll be showing the four prints in my "Literature Pictured" series, which takes inspiration from great books, poems and other writings. I wanted to use these written pieces as starting off points, visually interpreting them in abstract, unexpected ways that speak to greater themes within the works, and how I've personally related to them, rather than literal visual interpretations of the texts. I feel like show/gig posters do this for music; I wanted to do this for literature, with the idea that these prints work as stand alone pieces in addition to functioning as abstract illustrations.
I'm hoping to add at least 2 more to the series before I close it. Each print is a limited edition (50) screen print, signed and numbered. And I believe more screen prints, outside of this series, will be on the horizon for me, so stay tuned.
Here's a look at each piece.
Literature Pictured Series: No. 1. Walt Whitman Screen Print
From Walt Whitman's "Song of Myself" in
Leaves of Grass:
"Urge and urge and urge, always the procreant urge of the world."
Literature Pictured Series: No. 2. No Man Is an Island
From a passage from John Donne's "Meditation XVII":
"No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main. If a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe is the less, as well as if a promontory were, as well as if a manor of thy friend's or of thine own were: any man's death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind, and therefore never send to know for whom the bells tolls; it tolls for thee."
Literature Pictured Series: No. 3. But Thinking, Shakespeare
From William Shakespeare's
Hamlet:
"For there is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so."
Literature Pictured Series: No. 4. Moby-Dick
From Herman Mellville's Moby-Dick:
"There is no steady unrelenting progress in this life; we do not advance through fixed gradations and at the last one pause."
I started this series last spring with the goal of creating a series of art works that I could offer at a lower price to more people than my original watercolors/paintings--while still offering pieces with a high level of material integrity and craftsmanship. So far, I'm extremely pleased with the results! This is my first real foray into designing screen prints, and it has been, and continues to be, a rewarding learning experience. Discovering what works really well with the medium and what doesn't, how to translate what works with one set of materials to another and how to use the materials to their best effect has taught me not only about creating screen prints, but helped me observe how various pieces I make visually function. I feel like I'm learning something new with every design, and its a process that is pushing me as an artist.
